Category Archives: Learning

Recently, several people have asked me about learning Simplified Chinese vs Traditional Chinese characters. Particularly, which system is better to learn? Unfortunately, there is no straight-forward answer on which character set is better, but by considering the following, it should be easier for you to decide which one is better for you. ( Photo by

If you’re considering studying Mandarin Chinese abroad, I encourage you to also consider studying in Taiwan. And, to first check out my previous post in this series, Choosing a Mandarin Chinese Learning Center in Taipei, Taiwan. ( Photo by *Roy0920, on Flickr ) Class format Different classes with different teachers might vary, but we following

I recently decided to take a few months and go study Mandarin “properly” in Taiwan. I’ve always promoted, and still firmly believe, that one does not need to spend time in China/Taiwan to master the language. That being said, there are a lot of benefits to doing so. ( Photo by *Yueh-Hua 2013, on Flickr

The next version (1.1) of the Pin Pin app will include both male and female recordings of the Chinese pin yin chart. As soon as the new version is approved by Apple, you will be able to quickly switch between the two sound sets using the new menu on the top right of the screen.

On my journey to learn Chinese, I struggled a great deal with finding an effective, structured approach towards progress. A lot of my time was spent searching for and experimenting with the free, and sometimes paid, online resources like ChinesePod. These resources proved to be invaluable as a beginner, but their random nature often left

This is part three in my series on how to learn Mandarin Chinese. Check out my previous posts to get started. At this point in your studies you might be starting to notice that, even with some basic sentence structures, you lack the vocabulary to really understand what people are saying. At least, this is

If you’ve decided to learn Chinese but you haven’t started yet, check out my first post in this series, How I learned Mandarin Chinese. In my previous post, I stressed not trying to get things down perfectly yet. But, if you’ve followed through with my suggestions and have been studying for a week or two,

Recently, it seems like everyone I know is taking on learning a new language. And, more and more people are deciding to learn Chinese. The question of how I learned Mandarin Chinese, what resources I used, etc has come up several times in the last couple of weeks, so it feels appropriate that I write